HOPE ENDURES

Have you ever heard the saying, “when it rains, it pours?”  Or better yet, have you ever felt like you were in a place in life where everything was falling apart all at once?

I will never forget the week after my daughter was diagnosed with diabetes.  On her first day back to school, I arrived to school a little early to pick her up and when we got in the car to leave, my battery was dead.  Let me add to that… we were blocking the carpool lane and still fairly new to the school.  So I felt like a big loser as we had someone lend us a jump.

Also that week, I was having lunch at my favorite restaurant.  Several people sitting outside on the patio had the distinct pleasure of seeing me back into another car.  Very embarrassing. 

And I cannot forget sitting at a stoplight behind a truck.  When the light turned green, I hit my gas but the truck in front of me did not.  Yep, I slammed right into him as well.

Three’s a charm?  I am not sure.

At this point, what I did know is that I was under attack.  Completely exhausted and emotionally traumatized, I decided Satan would not get the best of me.  So I laughed.  I mean, really, what else can you do?

Now my story is a bit humorous looking back.  Luckily, no one was injured in my series of fender benders.  Only my hubby’s checking account. 

This morning, I opened up my bible to the story of Job.  This story….well, this story is not so funny.  Tragic is an understatement. 

There are 42 chapters in this story of woe.  Most of them are very hard to read frankly, as the suffering just goes on and on.

The prologue introduces us to Job and tells us that he is “a blameless and upright, God fearing man who shunned evil. “(1:1) 

He was the “greatest man among all people in the east.”  (1:3)

Satan thought that Job was so loyal because God had blessed him.  He challenged God telling him that Job would surely turn on him if everything he had was taken away.

Now particularly troubling to me is that more than once, we read about Satan roaming the earth.

Job 1:7 “The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”  Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming through the earth and going back and forth in it.” 

Doesn’t that make you shudder?  To think that Satan is roaming through the earth just looking to stir up trouble just makes me tremble.  And he doesn’t give up if he doesn’t get you the first time.  He just tries a new approach.

Right off the bat, Job loses his oxen and donkeys and servants (1:14-15) to the Sabeans who attacked them in the fields; he loses sheep and servants to a fire (1:16); he loses his camels and servants to the Chaldeans (1:17); he loses his sons and daughters to a mighty wind that collapsed the house where they were feasting (1:19).

Yet he still praised God:

The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away; may the name of the Lord be praised. Job 1:21

So Satan kept trying.

Next, Satan inflicted painful sores from the soles of his feet to the top of his head (2:7).  Even his wife said to him, “Are you still holding on to your integrity?   Curse God and die!”  To which he replies, “You are talking like a foolish woman.  Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?  In all this, Job did not sin in what he said.”  Job 2:9- 10

The story goes on from here and includes 3 of his friends coming to sit with him and comfort him.  They saw how great his suffering was.  Even then, Job does not betray the Lord. 

I have told you all before that I always pray and ask God to lead me to the place where He wants me to read before I start.  Today I opened specifically to the very last chapter of Job and the following verse caught my eye:

“Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know.”  (42:3)

This just stopped me right in my tracks.  Have you ever complained to God or questioned God or been mad at God?  I know I have.  But we must remember that He knows things we do not.  He can see things we cannot. 

At the end of the story of Job, we read: “The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first.”  (42:12)

I couldn’t help but wonder if Job felt blessed after all that he had lost.  I mean, did all of those beautiful children make up for the ones he lost?  Perhaps the sheep, oxen, donkeys and camels were replaced in his mind.  But what about the children?  It doesn’t say.  But knowing God the way I know God, I feel like certainly he gave Job peace and possibly a glimpse of his family in heaven.

Is it ironic that I opened up my bible to this story today?  I don’t know.  Suffering is all around me.  So many women I know are fighting (or have fought) cancer.  In one year, I lost three friends to cancer- breast, lung and colon.  All three women were mothers of young children.

Just this morning a friend of mine sent me a prayer request for her dear friend:  A woman who successfully fought cancer five years ago but has had a relapse and appears to be dying, leaving behind a husband and two young boys.

Then I have a friend whose child had a brain tumor ten years ago and they thought it was all behind them.  Recently, seizures have occurred signifying the tumors are back and the battle may not be over.

Outside of diseases, I have friends whose husbands have left them.  And I also have a friend who just left her husband.  I hear stories of iInfidelity, addictions to substances (or to porn), financial devastation, and those perhaps just seeking love in all of the wrong places.  Whatever the cause, it is all leading to broken families.

Then, there are my friends who are trying to build families:  One who desperately wants to get pregnant but continues to have miscarriages.  One who finds herself pregnant with multiples and is anxious and worried for the health of them all.  One who is trying to adopt a baby.  And I even know one who did adopt a baby only to later be required to give it back.

I am sure you also have witnessed real pain and real suffering.  At times, it is just overwhelming.  

Today, I heard a song that said, “How do we comprehend peace while in pain?”

We cling to hope, that’s how.  Hope.

Revelation 21:4
“He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.” (NLT)

Isaiah 43:2
“When you go through deep waters, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown. When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you.“ (NLT)

Romans 5:2-5
“Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” (ESV)

Romans 8:24-25
“For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.” (ESV)

I am praying that for all of us, our hope endures.  And of course, here is the song for you:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZfuff0S_OQ